ROCKFORD — Without sidewalks, crosswalks or pedestrian signals, people on foot must fend for themselves as they navigate the busiest intersection on Rockford’s hotel row.

About 42,000 vehicles pass through the East State Street-Bell School Road intersection each day, according to Illinois Department of Transportation traffic counts.

Local and state transportation officials have long recognized the potential danger for pedestrians there. After years of planning and arranging ways to pay for the improvements, construction of a more pedestrian-friendly intersection and a wider Bell School Road is expected to happen in spring 2015.

Rockford and Winnebago County reached an agreement this week to share some of the costs.

Construction has started on a recreation path that crosses Bell School. Other improvements will include new turn lanes at the intersection, crosswalks, pedestrian signals, street lights and sidewalks along the north and south sides of State Street.

“We definitely think this is a step in the right direction to improve the safety of visitors and people staying in hotels,” said Bridget French, director of marketing and public affairs for the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, which helped book about 105,000 stays at Rockford hotels last year.

French said the need for a safer pedestrian crossing became more apparent after Van Galder buses stopped using the Holiday Inn as a drop-off point. That means many passengers who get off at the terminal must cross State Street to get to their hotel or motel.

“It’s more critical than ever to have those safety measures taken so that there’s never another tragedy like the one that happened this winter,” French said.

There were talks to create a pedestrian bridge over East State Street several years ago, but the project was deemed too costly.

Winnebago County has taken the lead on the $5.8 million overhaul to Bell School-East State. The majority of the project is paid with state and federal funds. East State Street is under IDOT’s jurisdiction, and Bell School is a county highway. A portion of Bell School will be transferred to Rockford’s care once improvements are complete.

Page 2 of 2 - On Monday, the Rockford City Council approved an intergovernmental agreement with Winnebago County for the Bell School fixes. The city’s cost will be $458,600, an amount that reflects the price of city-requested sidewalks, street lights, improvements to Walton Road and shared traffic signal costs.

The intersection improvements are also meant to improve traffic flow.

Other improvements:

Bell School will be widened to four lanes between Newburg Road and Argus Drive.

A dual left-turn lane will be added for motorists turning east, toward the Clock Tower Resort, from North Bell School. Traffic signals and crosswalks are also planned at Bell School and Walton Street, south of East State, and Bell School and Argus Drive, which is north of East State.

A third through-lane is also planned for the south side of East State from where it ends near Denny’s Restaurant to Bell School.

In the long term, the county wants Bell School to have four lanes all the way to Guilford Road. It would have three lanes of traffic, including a center turn lane, north of there.

Assistant county engineer Wayne Vlk said there have been several crashes at the intersection, and the new turn lanes are designed to improve both driving safety and traffic flow. He said the county has worked toward improving Bell School and the intersection at East State since 2005.

“The roadway is completely inadequate for the traffic it now carries,” Vlk said. “It’s also a huge portion of the economic engine to the city on that whole hotel/motel complex and all of the tourism in that area, so obviously it needed to be enhanced.”